Identity

Read more about the article Session: Ecology and Nature in Contemporary Spiritualities
Art (music\film\literature etc.) / Feminism gender and sex / Geography / Identity / Israel / Judaism and Kabbalah / Magic and paganism / Myth / Popular culture and mass media

Session: Ecology and Nature in Contemporary Spiritualities

The relation to nature and the environment in religions is a fascinating subject, and it takes a new and surprising form these days - with the rise of the ecological discourse, and in light of the apocalyptic fears of an imminent ecological disaster. Some of the new religions place a special emphasis on the sanctification of nature (such as neo-shamanism). In the popular spiritual discourse the concept of nature adoration and caring for the environment feature, in the context of spiritual values. In this session, four studies dealing with ecology and nature in contemporary spiritualities are presented.

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May 26, 2024
Read more about the article Article: The Sixties Did (Not Altogether) Skip Israel – Rosh Pinna’s Hippie Community
Disputation or conflict / Feminism gender and sex / Geography / History / Identity / Israel / Science/medicine and technology / State politics and law / Typology and comparative study

Article: The Sixties Did (Not Altogether) Skip Israel – Rosh Pinna’s Hippie Community

An article that presents the story of the first spiritual-alternative community in Israel, which was a bubble of the sixties at the heart of the mobilized Zionist miliee at the time. The hippy community of Rosh Pinna was an extraordinary refuge where a fascinating "social laboratory" functioned, which also gave birth to other spiritual and alternative Israeli spaces. The article includes a comparison between hippie and Zionist values - from the fields of society and the law to the attitude to nature and music. It includes unique illustrations and photographs.

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March 21, 2024
Read more about the article Session: Around the Temple- Holy Places and Contested Spaces in Israel
Disputation or conflict / Geography / History / Identity / Israel / Judaism and Kabbalah / State politics and law

Session: Around the Temple- Holy Places and Contested Spaces in Israel

How is the Holy Land perceived and shaped by thinkers of new religions? In this session, at an international conference that dealt with new religions, four researchers (from the USA, Scotland and Israel) presented different religious approaches: by Freemasonry, channelers, Jewish and Christian groups. The session was moderated by Prof. Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro, at a conference of CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions), and the lectures were videotaped.

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November 12, 2023
Read more about the article Seminar: Spiritual Jewish Psychotherapy in Israel
Identity / Israel / Judaism and Kabbalah / Mind and psychology

Seminar: Spiritual Jewish Psychotherapy in Israel

This unique conference brought together research and practice in the innovative field of spiritual Jewish psychotherapy in Israel. It took place within the framework of the research project led by Prof. Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro and Prof. Ofra Mayseless, as part of an international and multicultural research project in the field of spiritual psychotherapy. (See links on the page.) Introductory lectures and a summary panel were held at the seminae, which were recorded on video. There were also discussion circles.

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November 12, 2023
Read more about the article Session: Periphery and Alternative – Spiritual Communities in the Galilee between Nature and Environment and Confrontation with the Establishment
Disputation or conflict / Geography / History / Identity / Israel / State politics and law

Session: Periphery and Alternative – Spiritual Communities in the Galilee between Nature and Environment and Confrontation with the Establishment

The connection to the land and nature of Israel is at the core of the Zionist ideology, and is closely related to ideological concepts of the conquest of the wilderness, the renewal of Jewish sovereignty, inhabiting the land, continuity of the people of Israel, and more. In alternative spirituality, on the contrary, there is a different ideological array, which also leads to different kind f practices, for example in regards to the relationship with the place/nature, national/personal identity, loyalty to the establishment. Naturally, this leads to conflicts between the bodies of the establishment and those communities. Therefore, it is convenient for such communities to operate in the periphery, such as the Galilee. A three-lecture session organized by Prof. Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro dealt with these issues, in the framework of a conference at Tel Hai College in the spring of 2022.

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November 12, 2023
Read more about the article Lecture: Recycled Witches – The Retelling of Narratives from Rabbinical Literature within Contemporary Alternative Spirituality
Art (music\film\literature etc.) / Feminism gender and sex / Identity / Israel / Judaism and Kabbalah / Magic and paganism / Myth / Popular culture and mass media / Typology and comparative study

Lecture: Recycled Witches – The Retelling of Narratives from Rabbinical Literature within Contemporary Alternative Spirituality

This lecture presents a surprising and innovative spiritual-alternative strategy of Israeli-Jews to refer to the Jewish tradition - an interpretation of the tradition while identifying with the anti-heroines of an ancient Jewish legend. In this way, the characteristic approach of the "spiritual-but-not-religious" (SBNR) trend that criticizes the religious establishment is expressed, while adopting the criticism inherent in the ancient Jewish sources. In our case it's the retelling of an ancient Jewish legend - about a witch hunt conducted by Rabbi Shimon ben Shatach in Ashkelon in the second century BC.

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October 13, 2023
Read more about the article Article: “The Most Powerful Portal in Zion”—Kursi: The Spiritual Site that Became an Intersection of Ley-lines and Multicultural Discourses
Feminism gender and sex / Geography / History / Identity / Israel / Judaism and Kabbalah / Magic and paganism / Myth / Science/medicine and technology / State politics and law

Article: “The Most Powerful Portal in Zion”—Kursi: The Spiritual Site that Became an Intersection of Ley-lines and Multicultural Discourses

This article deals with the sanctification process of a site in the Land of Israel, by the Alternative Spirituality, or Neo-Pagans/Shamans. The site, that has a Christian history, and is directed by an Israeli governmental authorities, has become a focus if an invention of tradition that synthesizes a variety of discourses and traditions. Though it is percieved as a hub in a network of power sites arrayedthroughout Israel and the whole planet, some view it as the most powerful spiritual site on Earth.

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June 19, 2023